REVIEW – The Girl’s Got Secrets (Forbidden Men, #7) by Linda Kage

Here’s the same old “girl posing as a boy” story but with a rock-n-roll twist.

Remy Curran dreams of one day being in a band, except the group she wants to join refuses to hire a girl drummer. So, she auditions as a guy…and makes the cut.

Becoming “Sticks,” a member of Non-Castrato, isn’t quite what she dreamed it would be, though. She spends most of her time keeping up the subterfuge and learning how to walk, talk, act, and drink like a man.

But what’s even harder to deal with is acting oblivious when the band’s heartthrob lead singer, Asher Hart, treats her like one of the guys and not a woman. She never imagined he’d be so much more than a pretty face with a nice voice. But he’s better than perfect. He’s perfect for her.

When love and lies combine, Remy must keep up the act or lose everything. But who knew lying to reach one dream could prevent you from attaining an even bigger dream?

*****Patty’s Review*****

*****4.5 STARS*****
{ARC Generously Provided by Author in Exchange for an Honest Review}

My body surged with awareness, skin prickling with a knowledge that the person touching me and pressing against me was the one person who was supposed to.

This is book seven in the Forbidden Men series and actually can be read as a stand-alone. Having only read book one, Price Of A Kiss, I was able to follow the story just fine even though there were several secondary characters whom I haven’t met before. What I can say is that after reading this book I am SERIOUSLY going to find the time to read this entire series!! I definitely need to get to Pick’s story because he kind of stole my heart along with Asher.

Remy Curran is a young woman with serious musical talents. She can sing, write music, and play several instruments. She has a shot at becoming the new drummer for one of her favorite local bands, Non-Castrato. They recently lost their drummer and are holding open auditions. But when she goes to try out for the band, she is quickly shot down simply for being a woman. She is so enraged that with the help of her bestie, who is a makeup artist, she goes back the next day in disguise as a dude. This reminded me of a couple of movies I’ve seen in the past and I was excited to dive right into the story.

Of course, she ends up impressing the crap out of the band and becomes their new drummer. Her plan was to reveal her identity as soon as she won the spot as drummer but when the exciting news is dropped about an upcoming gig, she decides to go along with her charade for a while longer.

Remy had one problem she didn’t count on, that she’d end up falling in love with the lead singer, Asher Hart. She had a crush on him before she joined the band, but after she got to know him, Remy was falling in love with the person he was on the inside. They become fast friends and early on Remy is labeled as gay because she’s caught ogling Asher on many occasions. Asher doesn’t have any homophobic tendencies and actually enjoys the friendship he has formed with Remy.

Asher hasn’t had a lot of meaningful relationships in his life and his childhood was truly horrific. His mother was an abusive addict who never let him forget that she wished he was dead and his father was just as horrible and is in jail for murder. But lately Asher has been feeling lonely and is craving the love of one special woman. He’s surrounded by all of his friends who have amazing relationships and he can’t help but want what they have. He doesn’t think he is capable or worthy enough to have true love or a family that cares for him, even though his half brother, Pick, tries so hard to bond with him. I found some of their moments to be really heart warming and I honestly fell in love with Pick.

As time keeps going by, Remy is having an inner struggle with herself. She knows that she is falling in love with Asher and that once he finds out the truth, she very well may lose him forever. He’s opened up to her about so many things that he has never told anyone before. She has also learned that he had seen her months ago, performing karaoke in the bar he works at, and that he actually become infatuated with the beautiful girl in a tight Incubus t-shirt.

Even though some aspects of the story were over the top and hard to believe, I really did love this one. I was able to suspend disbelief and really just fell in love. I struggled a bit in the beginning as I thought it started off a little slow but once I got into it, it was seriously hard to put down. I was really debating on whether to fore-go sleep last night because I just couldn’t wait to see how it all turned out for Remy and Asher!

I honestly loved this and do highly recommend it! I will definitely be making some time to read all the books that I have missed out on in this series.